Modesto Bee Article
 Letter to the Editor

last updated: March 31, 2009

Our community is lucky to be home to the Stanislaus Family Residency Program.

The Hippocratic oath includes the ideal of teaching the next generation of physicians. I have learned much from my almost 20 years of practice in Modesto, and I continue to learn from the residency.

These young physicians represent the best and the brightest looking to pursue a career in family medicine. The program boasts an enthusiastic faculty and includes community physicians who come to work with the residents in their clinics.

At the end of a long day in my own office, I look forward to a few hours as the "attending." It is a joy to be able to impart some of the wisdom I have gleaned in the real world, and truly exhilarating to ponder the questions posed to me.

No one from the community or from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) disputes the value of the program. This program has earned the respect of our community.

Not surprisingly, the threatened closure of the residency was the topic of discussion at the Stanislaus County Medical Society's board meeting. As president-elect, I felt a little dense when I asked, "I don't get it; who gains something by shutting down the program?"

Why would the CMS, in the Obama era of enhanced primary care and prevention, devastate the medical community of Stanislaus? Certainly someone, somewhere wins big?

There was no answer.

I hope my next question will have a satisfactory answer: How can the residency go forward, uninterrupted?

LISA M. MASSON, MD, MBA Family Physician

President-Elect, Stanislaus County Medical Society

Modesto